Note 19 — Chapter XLV

488. In regard to money of silver or gold they did not possess it in that [early] time. Those metals were employed in their trading only by the weight, which was used alone for silver and gold; and that weight they called talaro, and was indicated by balances, like ours. They reckoned and divided by this. And after they learned about money they gave to each piece its proper name, taking the coin that we call “tostòn,” or “real of four,” as the basis for greater sums. This they called salapì, although that is the common term for all kinds of money. They divided the salapì into two cahàtis, the cahàtis into two seycapat, the seycapat into two seycávalos, the seycávalo into two calatíos, the calatìo (which they call aliu) into the cũding, etc. All this division was regulated by tostòns in this manner: the cahàti signifies one-half tostòn; seycàpat, the fourth part; seycávalo, the eighth; calatìo is the Tagálog cuartillo;19 and so on. In order to say “three reals,” they say tatlongbahagui, that is, three parts of the tostòn. From the tostòn on, they count up to ten, and from ten to twenty, etc. Consequently, in their language they use this expression for ours, saying, “I ask ten and one more,” or “I ask one for twenty;” and so on. But now since they know what pesos are, that is, reals of eight, some of them reckon by pesos, which is more familiar to the Spaniards. But most of them do not forget their salapìs, nor the method of reckoning used by the ancients.